By Rebecca Goldfine,Staff Writer

FRYEBURG – An early morning fire Wednesday destroyed Fryeburg Academy’s 50-year-old gym.

The cause of the fire is being investigated, Fryeburg Fire Chief Ozzie Sheaff said.

“It was fully involved when we got here” about 4:30 a.m., Sheaff said. The fire was not completely extinguished until after 2 p.m., he added.

Firefighting teams from four towns were dispatched to the fire, which was detected by a fire inspector as he walked out of his home, Sheaff said.

Scott Kelly, the academy’s alumni coordinator and a former teacher who lives within 70 yards of Harvey Dow Gibson Recreation Center and gymnasium, said he woke up while the building was still smoldering. “When the windows blew out, it took off,” he said.

Kelly said a lot of student athletic gear in the building was lost, but trophies and state flags were somewhat salvaged.

From the athletic field bleachers, Tamara Kleczek, a senior, gazed at the billowing smoke rising from the blackened building. “We spent a lot of time in this gym. We had good times. All our dances were there, and plays,” she said.

“As soon as I found out, I dressed and rushed out here” from her house a mile away, she said. “There’s a whole lot of sadness,” Kleczek added. “A whole lot of memories.”

Megan Olson, also a senior, said her mother dropped her off on her way to work so she could watch firefighters douse small outbreaks of fire.

Headmaster Dan Lee said that despite the losses, “We’re committed to finishing out the fall sports season, and we’re committed to an unchanged and complete winter season and spring season. And to make that possible, clearly we’ll have to use space that presently doesn’t exist on the campus.”

Many possibilities for alternative sporting areas have been considered, Lee said.

Kelly said the full-length basketball court and wrestling mats, as well as football and soccer equipment, were all gone. One of the options the school is considering is installing a portable basketball court in one of the fairground buildings, Kelly said.

Students watching the fire said they were worried that the homecoming dance scheduled for Saturday night in the gym would be canceled. But Kelly insisted, “We’ll have the homecoming dance Saturday night, but maybe not the football game.” He suggested the dance might be held in a building at the fairgrounds.

Wednesday night, the varsity head football coach said the game is on. Jim “Fuzzy” Thurston said that the Raiders’ homecoming game with Mountain Valley will be played at 1:30 p.m. Saturday as scheduled.

School was canceled for the day Wednesday, and students wandered by throughout the morning to check out the charred remains.

Kelly said the school will quickly recover. “Tragedies to strategies,” he added.

Staff Writer Randy Whitehouse contributed to this report.